#57
**
After feeding him a roughly ordered room service brunch, Ha-min asked if he could go change clothes. While Tae-rim might not care, Ha-min didn’t want to wear the dirty clothes from yesterday to what felt like a date with him.
When Ha-min said he felt his clothes from yesterday were dirty and asked if he could go home to change, Tae-rim just smiled without answering and headed to a shopping mall. Using the excuse of tight movie times, he had Ha-min change into neat clothes and handed his card to the employee. Knowing Ha-min would feel burdened, he avoided overly expensive luxury shops.
“You didn’t have to buy me anything…”
Ha-min mumbled, fidgeting with the edge of the shirt Tae-rim bought him. Moreover, his guilt doubled because Tae-rim had also booked the movie tickets. To ease Ha-min’s sense of burden, Tae-rim smiled brightly and said:
“Then buy me popcorn.”
Tae-rim felt he was starting to understand Ha-min now. Blindly embracing him would likely result in the severely avoidant Ha-min locking the door. So a reasonable compromise and request were necessary. To lighten that heavy heart.
It seemed to be the right answer as Ha-min jumped up and asked urgently:
“What flavor?”
“Hmm… the one you like.”
“Uh… I like all of them…”
“Your favorite flavor?”
Ha-min’s face showed he thought popcorn wasn’t enough to balance the scales, but he looked much lighter. He quickly headed to the counter. He scanned the menu with a serious face and ordered decisively. Then he came back with two of the largest sizes and handed one over.
“This is for hyung. This is mine.”
It was funny how oblivious he was, buying such large sizes for each of them. Tae-rim let out a deflated laugh seeing the large size placed in front of him. But the innocent Ha-min spoke with quite a happy face.
“They’re two different flavors… This is the basic flavor, and mine is caramel.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s share them.”
Ha-min said with the brightest smile he’d ever shown. Tae-rim quietly gazed at that face for a moment. He found himself unwittingly captivated by the pure, untainted smile. Just then:
“Ha-min oppa!”
A cheerful voice rang out loudly from not too far away. Startled by the sound, Ha-min turned his head towards it.
“Eun-soo―.”
His already smiling face brightened even more. Recognizing his friend, he jumped up and waved. In contrast, Tae-rim clicked his tongue. It was the appearance of an unexpected, uninvited guest.
“Oppa, did you come to watch a movie too?! Oh? Ah… Hello, senior.”
Seeming to have noticed Tae-rim sitting across, Eun-soo greeted him with a slightly sullen face, bowing her head.
“Wow, we meet hyung here of all places―. Wait, I thought you were sleeping when you didn’t answer the phone!”
Eun-soo and Woo-kyung appeared side by side. Upon discovering Ha-min, they naturally sat down on either side of him.
“What, did you come to watch with senior? No way, are you dating…”
“Oh! Woo-kyung, did, did you eat lunch?”
Ha-min, startled by Woo-kyung’s careless words about coming to watch a movie with a man while having a girlfriend, cut in. He didn’t want to expose any unnecessary lies in front of Tae-rim. It was his first time. Going out side by side like this. Instinctively feeling that it shouldn’t be discovered, words tumbled out before he knew it. He knew it was cowardly, but his mouth was faster than his brain. Ha-min unknowingly looked at Tae-rim. Tae-rim had an indifferent expression at the sudden appearance of friends. Realizing he hadn’t heard, Ha-min let out a small sigh of relief.
“Uh, yeah. I ate. Had some hangover soup with Ha Eun-soo, then came to catch a movie ’cause I was bored.”
“Ah, I see… Good for you.”
Ha-min replied with an awkward smile.
“Oppa, what movie are you watching? Let me see the tickets.”
Eun-soo asked nonchalantly while helping herself to the popcorn. Tae-rim crossed his legs with a displeased look, watching her unceasing hand.
“Tickets? The tickets… Hyung, what movie are we watching?”
Tae-rim had made the reservation. The type of movie didn’t matter. Just watching together was meaningful, so Ha-min hadn’t even asked.
When Ha-min asked urgently, Tae-rim forced a smile, opened the phone app, and held it out.
“Oh? It’s the same as ours! We can watch together!”
After checking the title, theater, and time, Eun-soo excitedly hit Ha-min’s arm repeatedly. Tae-rim’s brow furrowed at Eun-soo’s excited words. Fuck, watch together what…. As Tae-rim scanned with an displeased face.
“Yeah, that worked out well.”
Tae-rim inevitably tempered his irritation at Ha-min’s genuinely happy smile. The obliviously smiling face was both exasperating and cute.
“Wow, but you two even came to watch a movie together. Why did you buy two popcorns though?”
This time, Woo-kyung asked while casually eating from Tae-rim’s popcorn. Tae-rim narrowed his eyes and snatched the popcorn container from Woo-kyung’s hand with a slight smile.
“It’s mine.”
“Ah… Ah―! I’m sorry.”
Woo-kyung apologized politely, flustered by Tae-rim’s claim of ownership over the popcorn. His face showed he hadn’t expected such pettiness over this, given how rich Tae-rim was. As the atmosphere rapidly sank, Ha-min, looking flustered, held out his popcorn container to Woo-kyung.
“Ea, eat mine.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah.”
Ha-min answered with a broad smile. In the end, seeing him give away his own made Tae-rim even more annoyed. So fucking nice…. Tae-rim scanned Woo-kyung with an unpleasant gaze.
“I’ll enjoy it, hyung―. You’re the best as always.”
Woo-kyung playfully clung to Ha-min’s arm, acting cute. Then he glanced at Tae-rim sulkily and threw out a teasing comment.
“I thought you were really generous, senior, but you’re… a bit stingier than I expected.”
What are you saying, idiot.
Tae-rim swallowed the words that almost burst out involuntarily and let out a dry laugh instead of answering.
“That’s not true….”
The one who refuted Woo-kyung’s playful words was none other than Ha-min.
“Hyung isn’t stingy…. He’s treating us to the movie, and he bought me these clothes too.”
Woo-kyung burst out laughing at Ha-min’s words, spoken as if seriously trying to persuade him. Laughing loudly, he hit Ha-min’s shoulder repeatedly and spoke as if joking.
“Ah, I’m just kidding, just kidding―. Everyone in our department knows how generous senior is. Thanks to hyung, we went for first and second rounds yesterday, right?”
His way of addressing Tae-rim smoothly changed from “senior” to “hyung.” Regardless of what they were chattering about beside him, Tae-rim was staring intently at Ha-min. He looked quite pleased that Ha-min had refuted on his behalf. Smirking, he suddenly snatched the popcorn container from Woo-kyung’s hand. Suddenly deprived, Woo-kyung blinked with a foolish expression.
“Buy something with this.”
Tae-rim handed over his card instead of the popcorn he’d taken. When he spoke with a kind smile, Woo-kyung, who didn’t know how to refuse, excitedly took the card and headed to the counter.
When they were finally left alone as Eun-soo went to the self-service kiosk to change seats and Woo-kyung went to the counter to buy popcorn, Tae-rim grinned as he handed the caramel-scented popcorn container to Ha-min. Meeting the docile gaze looking blankly at him, he said affectionately:
“Here, Ha-min’s.”
Returning it to its original owner, Tae-rim smiled with satisfaction.
**
Unintentionally, the four of them sitting in a row was extremely displeasing to him.
Tae-rim stretched his legs out long, casually resting his arms on the armrests, and stared at the screen with an indifferent face. The movie content was a trivial romantic comedy. Since he’d chosen roughly based on the time, it didn’t matter what they watched. He didn’t usually enjoy movies much, and a trivial romance was far from enough to capture Tae-rim’s interest.
But there was something more interesting. Tae-rim rested his chin on his hand and stared directly at Ha-min’s profile as he watched with wide eyes from the moment the movie started. Ha-min’s face repeatedly brightened and darkened with the light from the screen. His sparkling eyes were lovely each time it brightened. Despite the truly cliché and tedious, common content of the movie, Ha-min was so focused he wouldn’t notice if someone tried to kidnap him. Finding this more entertaining than the movie, Tae-rim was admiring Ha-min’s profile, who didn’t even realize he was being watched.
Truly watching a movie for the first time in a long while, Ha-min was deeply focused for quite some time before he suddenly turned his head, unconsciously aware of the gaze constantly touching his cheek. Then he flinched at Tae-rim’s gaze, which had been staring at him intently for some time, and quietly leaned in. As Ha-min’s face drew closer as if to whisper, Tae-rim immediately leaned in as well.
“Is it not interesting?”
The voice asking very carefully in his ear was sweet. Tae-rim silently laughed and brought his lips to Ha-min’s ear to answer.
“It’s interesting.”
He was sincere. Song Ha-min’s face watching the movie was interesting.
Ha-min smiled at his answer as if relieved. Tae-rim, who had been quietly staring at that smiling face, silently grasped Ha-min’s hand resting on the armrest. Startled by the sudden skinship, Ha-min anxiously glanced at the others sitting on the opposite side. Tae-rim didn’t care and raised the armrest. The two on the opposite side were already too focused on the movie to notice. Moreover, they were busy eating the popcorn bought with Tae-rim’s card.
“So, someone might see…”
Ha-min tried to carefully pull his hand away, but Tae-rim firmly interlocked their fingers. The intertwined fingers tightly bound Ha-min’s hand.
“This is why we came to the movie theater.”
